Innocence

The first thing I heard was the soft rhythmic beeping surrounding me. I was warm now, heavy layers of something pushing down on all of me. There was yelling and screaming in the small space I was in. Someone had something wet pressed against my forehead, making the pain come back to me. It was too intense to follow every little aspect of the situation, but as I concentrated on where I was, my eyes opened. What I saw wasn’t something of comfort.

“Candace Heart, can you hear me?” A voice said very close to my face.

My vision was still blurred by some blood, making me blink furiously from the irritation. I tried to speak, to move my head and try to see just exactly where I was.

“Her arm is shattered; we need to get an x-ray.” A woman said from behind me. A soft finger touched my searing arm then left it alone.

Bright light were everywhere, blinding me. I could feel that I was on a bed, and I could feel that I was shivering violently, blankets holding me to the bed.

“We need to warm her.” the women said again, “Hurry!”

Whatever I was lying on had been moving. The motion stopped, and I wasn’t under such bright lights anymore. I could see a few things now. The green and yellow pasty walls around me, and all of the people in white coats bustling over me.

“Are you Candace Heart honey? Can you hear me?” The man was back in front of my face. His hair was long and blonde, tied up on the back of his head. His eyes were almost a clear green, staring down at me with worry.

“Candace honey? Does your head hurt?” he asked me, his hand reaching up to my head. The pressure relaxed on my head, and the pain dwindled to a low ache. The pressure returned just as quickly, the pain returning at the same time.

I tried to turn my head away from the man. He was hurting me…

The sound of a door opening and closing, then another man was by my side. This man wasn’t dressed like the others though, he was a police officer, and someone was standing next to him, keeping his distance. I blinked furiously, trying to see.

I realized then that my vision was blurry; it was my body that was making me not see clearly. Every single one of my muscles convulsed with the cold of the clothes I was wearing, soaked through with freezing water. I tried to quiet myself, but it only made it worse.

“This is the boy that pulled her out of the car right before it exploded.”

Exploded? What? My car exploded? No, my brand new car was gone. Gosh that was a nice car.

“Do you know who this is?” the man above me asked.

“She’s my neighbor, Candace Heart.”

The man nodded. “Thank you. Now you need to leave.” The police officer and the other boy left my line of vision, disappearing into the brighter lights ahead of me.

A hot pad touched my cheek and I instinctively leaned into it.

The woman’s voice rang through the room this time, clearer than before. “Her temperature is 92. We need to warm her up or we can’t do anything. She shaking too badly. James! Did you call her parents?”

The man hovering over me replied, “Yeah, they are almost here.”

“Good. See if you can get a response out of her. Her head was hit pretty har4d, there may be brain damage.”

Brain damage? I don’t have any brain damage!

This time when I tried to shake my head, I realized it wasn’t the man that was holding it still; it was the hard neck brace that was doing the job. My right arm ached more than my head, so with my left arm, I reached up to try and take it off,. My throat was already sore and I didn’t want it pressing against my skin.

“Candace? Can you hear me?” James asked, his face farther away from me now. Maybe he was behind me. Someone was, pulling at my hair and my scalp. I could feel the sticky wetness of the blood dripping from the open gash.

I tried to speak, but my throat was so sore it wouldn’t work right. All that came out was a small wheeze.

“Her windpipe may be bruised, so talking might be out of the question.” A ruff voice said. The women in the room agreed.

“Candace, blink twice if you can hear me.”

I blink twice, trying to find my bearings.

The man answered my question, coming into my view. “Do you remember what happened, Canadce? Blink twice for yes, once for no.”

I thought back trying to remember. All I remember is driving in my car, and seeing a dog, nothing more.

I blink once.

“You were in a car crash honey, you flipped your car. Two boys got you out of your car before it exploded. They saved your life.”

The man came into focus more clearly, his small but scared looking face wasn’t as close to me as I had thought.

“Dog,” I wheezed, trying to tell them what I remembered.

“A dog? Did you have a dog with you? There was a dog on the scene…”

I blinked once for no.

“Hit dog.” I wheezed again. My throat almost closed up, so I didn’t continue. I was just so confused. How could I be here. Was I in a hospital?

The sound of doors opening again had me closing my eyes. Doors, swinging doors. I was in a hospital.

“Candace!” Nathan and my mom yelled together, coming to my side. I tried to open my eyes, but they were just too heavy. My head hurt so much; the pain was getting worse in my arm too.

“Candace baby we’re here. Oh my God what happened?”

Tears started to roll down my cheeks from the pain, and I was able to open my eyes. My mom’s hand was at my cheek, rubbing it lightly.

My shivers had slowed to a constant shaking, but they were bearable. My vision was blurred again by my tears. I tried to swallow so I could speak, but my mouth was dry. I tried to speak anyway. “It hurts.” I told my mom.

Her eyes were filled with tears too. “I know honey, it’ll be okay. The doctors will fix you up.”

The woman doctor was at my mother side, her dark black hair covering half of her face. “We need to go get her x-rays. We’ll need to sedate her now so we can fix up her head. Once we have warmed her up, and she has stabilized, we will need to bring her into surgery to fix her arm. It was shattered and there is a lot of damage.”

Nathan spoke before my mom could. “Will she be okay?”

“The only concern right now is her temperature. It’s at 93 right now, so we are trying to warm up her body enough to bring her to surgery.” James answered.

My mom’s warm hand was at my cheek again, rubbing it softly. “My poor baby.”

“Okay James, give it to her. We need to hurry.” The women said.

I didn’t feel the needle in my arm, but I didn’t feel the drowsiness take affect rather quickly. I couldn’t fight this off no matter how much I tried. It took me under with in a matter of seconds.

“I told her that it was too icy on the roads.” Nathan hissed, his hot breath warming my left cheek.

“Oh stop it.” My mother said, her tone irritated.

Nathan didn’t respond. A warm hand touch my cheek trailing down my neck.

“We should go and find those boys Nathan. The doctor said their still here. We should thank them.”

Nathan’s breath was hot on my cheek again. “I don’t want to leave her here by herself.”

The voices seemed far away. Like I was in a room at the other end of the hallway from where they were. The voices were faint and sharp at the same time. Quiet, and yet they pulsed through my brain in loud shaking waves.

My head was pounding, and my arm was throbbing.

The female doctor must have come in, because she by my bedside, talking to my parents. “She sustained minor injuries for the kind of damage that could have been done. Her right arm is broken in three areas, and her skull took a good beating. We stitched her back up, and the surgery went very well. All screws are in place. If she keeps this cast on for about a month, it should be fully healed.”

My mom and Nathan sighed at the same time, thanking the doctor for her help.

The doctor spoke quieter now. “I need you both to come and fill out some papers for me. Nothing major.”

Nathan’s breath had been hot on my cheek every since I woke up, now it disappeared as he followed my parents out of the room.

For the first time, I tried to open my eyes. They were so heavy, and the pain wasn’t as tolerable as it had been before. When my eyes finally did open, I realized I hadn’t escaped form the ugly green and yellow walls.

I was in a hospital bed, the lights above me hardly even lighting up the room. It was hard to see everything, but what I could see of the room told me I was correct to assume I was still in a hospital. Two chairs and a small table were lined up against the opposite wall. There were two large windows, both covered by ugly yellow shades.

One thing caught my eye though. It was a person, standing just by the doorway. It was boy, a person I had seen before. Trevor’s face came into view, no smile on that beautiful face of his. “I’m glad your okay.” He whispered, his hands tucked into his pockets.

I blinked, confused by his presence. When I looked back at the spot, he was gone, the door to my room closing as if someone had just gone through it.